Interview Insights When The Roles Are Reversed

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Over the years I've interviewed New York Times bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins a number of times for different magazine articles. When we met at least three decades ago, both of us were magazine editors and attending the Evangelical Press Association convention. One evening at EPA, three of us (all editors) played scrabble against Jerry—and Jerry won. He is a world-class scrabble player and knows all of the strange three letter words.

When Jerry and Tim LaHaye wrote the first Left Behind novel, Jerry sent me a review copy. I read it while on a trip and was skeptical about the plot. The opening scene where half of the people in a 747 are raptured (disappear) seemed unbelievable (even though I understood this concept from the Bible). Then I got hooked with the characters and read every one of those books (which have sold over 60 million copies).

Jerry graciously agreed to write the foreword for my newest book, 10 Publishing Myths. Both of us have appeared on the same stages at various writers' conferences yet Jerry had never interviewed me—until recently. Jerry runs the Jenkins Writers Guild and each month has a Master Class interview (follow this link to see a sample and even sign up.) Several months ago, the Jenkins Guild released our interview. I asked (and received) permission to post this 36-minute interview here. Either click the link to open the video in a new window or use the video below.

 

We covered a wide range of questions including:

• the legacy of Billy Graham

• advice from 10 Publishing Myths

• how writers can get a literary agent

• why go to a writers' conference

• how to turn off the critic when writing my first draft

• key mistakes I've seen writers make in their submissions

• the details of Morgan James Publishing (some people will be surprised to hear Jerry's endorsement)

• the importance of blogging and The Writing Life

• what makes a book proposal standout

• and much more.

Yes there is a great deal of valuable content packed into this video. I had fun answering Jerry's questions and I hope each of you will enjoy and gain value from this video. It was a different experience for us to reverse roles for this interview and Jerry interviewed me instead of my interviewing him.

Have you experienced this interview reversal? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.

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Bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins interviews this prolific editor and author. Watch this valuable video when the roles are reversed. (ClickToTweet)

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Interview Others to Grow as a Writer

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For many years, I interviewed authors about their books and the craft of writing for magazine articles. Sitting with these bestselling authors and asking them about writing taught me much more than I could pour into a 1500 word or even a 1,000 word magazine article.  Interviewing others is a critical skill for any writer.

If you don't interview others for your magazine articles, I recommend you write some query letters and pitch writing personality profiles. These profiles are magazine articles focused on a single person and many publications love these types of stories. After you get the assignment from an editor, you can secure your interview with the person. If they are well-known and you don't know how to reach them, go to someone in the publicity section of their book publisher. These publicity people book interviews for journalists to reach their authors.

These publicity people will track down the author, nail down a time for your interview. I always ask for 45 minutes to an hour for the interview to make sure I get what I need for my profile. Also these publicity people will send you review copies of any books and background that you need. Gather all of this information from the publisher ahead of time. Then read the books and look for unique insights and questions you can ask the personality.

If the person you are interviewing is well-known or has been interviewed often, your preparation and creating unique questions is a critical part of your preparation.  If you don't prepare, you will not gather unique stories and information from your interview. Instead the person will tell you their “stock stories” or material that they always tell journalists during their interviews.  For your article, you are looking for stories which have not been told or are rarely told.

As a part of your preparation, write down a list of specific questions. Take time to imagine yourself doing the interview and how you are going to ask different questions. As you specifically write them down, it will help your preparation for the interview. Then during the interview, use your questions but also be flexible to ask other questions as they happen. At the end of the interview, ask if there is something else you should have asked. It gives the individual a chance to sell you something they wanted to tell you.

Whether the interview is on the phone or in person, I tell the other person that I'm making a recording of our conversation and get their permission on the tape. As a practice, in general, I do not transcribe this tape (which from experience seems like a waste of time and energy). Instead I write from my notes but use the tape as a back up tool—and for expansion of information. I can't write fast enough to get down everything (at least in a format so I can read it after the interview). I have found this method of recording and using the tape for additional information as the most effective way for me to use the recording.

Also as a part of the interview, I ask the person how I can check the facts of my story with them before I send it to my editor. The editor may edit and change around the story—but I can protect the accuracy and integrity of what I'm sending. Most journalists never take this step in the interview process. Then if you publish something inaccurate, it will potentially ruin your relationship with the individual. If on the other hand, you check the details with the person, then you are taking steps to preserve your relationship with the person—and can easily return to them for something else in the future (even the distant future).

Last week instead of interviewing another person, Patricia Durgin interviewed me on Facebook Live. I loved Patricia's preparation and questions for this hour-long interview. You can follow this link to watch the interview.

Do you interview others? Has it helped you grow as a writer? Let me know your experiences and tips in the comments below.

Tweetable:


Discover interviewing others is a way to grow as a writer. Get insights from this prolific journalist and author. (ClickToTweet)

Make Monday November 7th Special

The airwaves are full of Election news pointing for Tuesday, November 8th. You may be wondering what is special about the day before the election—November 7th. Monday is special because it will mark the 98^th  birthday of one of the most admired men in America—Billy Graham.

Because Mr. Graham isn't in the public eye these days I regularly find people who believe he has passed away—but he is alive. Known to some as the spiritual adviser to every president of the United States since Dwight D. Eisenhower, Billy Graham has been an influential person for the political and spiritual life of our country. Ironically he was born the day before the election of our next president.

In celebration of Mr. Graham's birthday, I have been doing several radio interviews about Billy Graham. On Wednesday, I drove to North Denver and was LIVE in the studios of KPOF for the breakfast table with Denise and Gordy talking about Billy Graham for an hour. Our interview was recorded and you can hear the entire interview (just follow this link). I downloaded the interview and stored it on my own website to preserve it.

How can you honor and celebrate Billy Graham's birthday? I normally write these articles for Tuesday but it will be too late for Mr. Graham's birthday. I want to give you several ideas of something practical you can do for this celebration.

1. Retweet this article on your various social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram and others. When you post, make sure you use the hashtag #HappyBirthdayBillyGraham.

2. Use the images which I have prepared for you. Studies have shown that a post with an image is more likely to be read and used. It's one of the reasons that I include an image when I post on social media.  I've prepared four different images and use them with your posts.

3. Use my sample posts to wish Mr. Graham a Happy Birthday. Often it is harder to create something original than to modify something that someone else has created.  I encourage you to use these samples and put your own twist on them:

I’m celebrating @BillyGraham’s 98th Birthday #HappyBirthdayBillyGraham

Congratulations @BillyGraham on Your 98th Birthday #HappyBirthdayBillyGraham

#HappyBirthdayBillyGraham Thank you for a life committed to serving others. Congratulations on your 98th birthday

Your 98 years have changed many lives. Thank you, @BillyGraham #HappyBirthdayBillyGraham

4. Encourage others to go to this website where I have the images and samples: http://billygrahambio.com/HappyBirthday.html

None of us this side of Heaven will know about the impact of Billy Graham on our world. I encourage you to take a few minutes to wish Mr. Graham a Happy Birthday but also to pass this information on to others so they too can join in the celebration. As you take action, it will make Monday, November 7th, a special day of celebration.

#HappyBirthdayBillyGraham

Tweetable:

Join the 98th  Birthday Celebration for Billy Graham. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Monday, November 7th  marks the 98th birthday for Billy Graham. Join the celebration. (ClickToTweet)

Tired of the Election News? Focus on something positive. (ClickToTweet)
 

How Do You Respond When You Find a Low Number?

I stared at the number of views on YouTube in disbelief. How could it be that small? Only 80 views? I recorded the interview a year ago with my friend Al Gansky talking about my work with Billy Graham and my book, Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist. 

After the interview, I blogged about the interview. All of my people on my blog list received a copy of the interview through their email and also others saw it directly on the site. Why so few views? I looked at some of the other people Al had interviewed and they had many more views.

Then reality hit. I had only promoted the interview at the actual time of the event. I had put no on-going promotion in place with my social media or other ways. Immediately I made a decision to pour more promotion into this interview—and hopefully the numbers will increase. I'm embedding the YouTube interview here to make it easy for you to watch:


Al and I were talking about my unique background to write this particular book. I hope you will enjoy this interview and I want more people to know about it.

For every writer, it's part of the process to receive low numbers. Sometimes it is a report on the book sales of your latest book. Other times only a few people have registered for one of your teleseminars or even a live event. I've taught workshops at large conferences where I have two or three people attending my continuing class.  Other times I've taught at the same large conference and had a packed room. Each time I decided to teach those couple of people as though I had a room full of people. My teaching was recorded and I determined to take advantage of this recording and continue to promote the results. Please check my speaking schedule to see where our paths will cross in the months ahead.

Back to my original question in the title of this article, how to you respond when you discover a low number? Do you blame others? Maybe your publisher isn't working hard enough to tell people about your book? Instead of trying to put the blame on others, I encourage you to look inside first. Ask yourself, if you poured the right energy into producing a great product. Is the cover well-done? Is the book broadly distributed? Did you hire an editor and make an excellent book?

If the product or event is well-done, then the next question is about the marketing and sales. If the numbers are low, take your own responsibility and be telling more people about your work. Make some calls to schedule more local events. Pitch some magazines with excerpts of your book or write articles on similar topics and promote your book in your bio at the end of the article. You can reach thousands of people using such a strategy. Or step up your social media and get more people viewing your work.

Several weeks ago I received the royalty statement for one of my continual bestselling books. Whenever I speak at conference, for years I sell more of this book than any other.  My royalty statement was dismal with low numbers. 

I took action to see what could be done. Would my publisher return the rights to the book? Yes if I purchased all of the remaining copies. It was not a small investment on my part to take this action—but a strategic one.  As the author, I have the most passion about this topic (more than my publisher). If I own all of the printed copies, then I can reduce the price to sell more books. Also I can create marketing campaigns to sell the book—one by one and also in volume. I'm actively working on these details and you will be hearing more about it in the days ahead. I did not let this important book remain at low sales. I have over 130 Five Star Amazon reviews for this book and it continues to help people. The decision will involve hard work but is worth my efforts.

The book is Book Proposals That Sell, 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success. If you haven't got a copy, now is the time because of the reduced price. Just follow the link. Also you will receive a series of unique bonuses that I've created for anyone who buys the book.

If you have the book and haven't reviewed it, then I encourage you to take a few minutes, write a few sentences of review on Amazon and Goodreads. Please do not purchase the book from Amazon since I have all the remaining copies and you will get it cheaper from me (and if you ask, I'll sign it to you. Just let me know the details in the special instructions section of my shopping cart).

Just like I took action, your actions make a difference. If you do nothing, then nothing will continue to happen. If I can help you, let me know. My email is in my Twitter profile.

Tweetable:
What to do when you find a low number? #marketing (Click to tweet)

 

Terry Whalin Writes a Billy Graham biography . . .Twice!

Recently my friend Diane Huff Pitts interviewed me about my Billy Graham book and a number of other great topics. The interview is located at this link.

I'm letting you know about it in this article so you can click over and read my interview. She is publishing it in two parts. 

Just to give you a taste of what it contains, here's her questions:

About my Billy Graham Biography

HC (High Cotton): Terry, what instigated the Billy Graham biography? What has to happen to get a book like this sanctioned by someone so famous?

Faith Impacts Whalin’s Work

HC: In “Two Words That Changed My Life” you introduce visitors to your initial faith walk. How has faith impacted your job in the publishing world?

Networking and Educating Writers

HC: Was there anything in your writing career that gave you a heart for championing new writers?

My answers form the article. Hope you enjoy it and learn as I'm learning.
 

When the Interviewer Gets Interviewed

Have you ever had the tables turned on you? For many years, I've interviewed authors about their books. From those interviews, I've written many articles which have appeared in numerous magazines. As the interviewer, I've poured a great deal of energy into my preparation, learning the author's background, reading books and writing a series of questions.

I've done a number of radio interviews over the years but they have all been on the telephone. I've called a radio station or the station has called me and the interview has been done remote. Yesterday I had a different experience in this area. Kimberlee Martin, host of Real People of Orange County interviewed me. I went with her to the radio station of KUCI which has been broadcasting on the campus of the University of California Irvine 24 hours a day for years. 

We sat across a table from each other and both wore earphones and spoke into separate microphones. In this live radio broadcast, the tables were turned. Instead of asking questions, I was answering questions from Kimberlee. I enjoyed the experience. 

We talked about my latest book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams as well as Morgan James Publishing (check out the new website as of January 1st). Finally we talked about keeping up with changes like social media. While the interview was live, it was also recorded. You can download the entire program here (just right click and “save as” to save the file on your computer).

Also I've made this audio button so you can listen to the program on my blog:



I'm unsure if it will go through to the email version so you might have to return to the blog to use the button—just click this link and it will take you to the correct page.

I pass the interview along to you in hopes you will gain a great deal from this information.

Read My Author Interview & More

Several weeks ago on a small writer forum that I regularly read, one of my author friends announced her author interview was on Roads Diverged. She gave the link and mentioned that Kristine Lowder was looking for other authors to interview and gave her email address.

I don't know how others on this forum responded, but I seized the opportunity. I went to Kristine's blog and sent her an email to find out more details about how to be interviewed. She responded right away with a series of interview questions. 

If you follow my writing and life in publishing, I have many things in motion. I didn't craft my answers to her questions right away and ever the professional Kristine sent me a follow-up note wondering how I was doing answering her questions. That gentle prod got me focused on her questions and I returned them several weeks ago.

When I returned the material, she thanked me and told me that she had it scheduled for the first of September—which was four or five weeks away from our correspondence.

I'm writing about this interview so you can read it (follow the link or click on the image on this post). I answer a number of questions about writing and publishing. Notice that I wove a number of links into my responses—which lead to free resources and one or two resources that the reader can purchase. 

When the article came out this week, Kristine promoted the article to her connections and I also promoted the article to my over 40,000 Twitter followers, my almost 4,700 Facebook friends and my over 2,300 LinkedIn connections.

The Internet has an abundance of these types of opportunities. As a book author, are you seizing the day? For this interview to happen, I took action and responded to the questions. You can follow the same steps.

Over and over I see authors who believe they have done their work in simply writing their book and getting it into the marketplace. Yes, it is critical to craft an excellent book and that is foundational. Also the writer has to enter into the marketing and promotion aspects to spread the word about their work. It may not happen overnight.

Recently I read this article about bestselling author Wayne Dwyer. In the early days of his writing life, he sold books out of the trunk of his car. It is a story that I've heard many times about bestselling authors (not selling out of their trunk) but the fact that it took them years in the trenches to become an overnight success. 

What actions are you taking today to spread the word about your writing work? In writing this article, hopefully I've encouraged you with the possibilities. 

The Importance of Interviewing

There are many different types of writing. Whether you are working on a book manuscript or a magazine article, one of the best skills that you can continue to use and develop is to interview others. Whether you are looking for great quotations for your article or background research, interviewing is a critical skill.

I want to encourage you to watch a few minutes of Alex Mandossian as he talks about this important skill of interviewing. Also make sure you take the brief marketing quiz to see what you can learn from that simple exercise. Also the $20 preview call is coming up on June 5th. Every author (no matter whether you have published one book or no books or many books) will learn a great deal from this inexpensive call. The call previews the Virtual Book Tour Systems course where I will be teaching an hour about book proposal creation. Just reading the VBT page, anyone can learn a great deal of information.

I hope you find this information useful. And if you just want to see something funny, then check out this YouTube video for an "author book tour" launch. If you've been involved in such matters you will realize the truth behind the humor.

In the last couple of weeks, I've thought about these entries a great deal but not created much material. It will be even harder for me to add entries over the next few weeks. I leave later today to drive to Los Angeles for Author University 101 tomorrow then a couple of days at Book Expo America. I return home for a day, then I leave for Write To Publish in the Chicago area. I'll be teaching the Freelance Career Track where every participant has to have published at least one book. I've worked hard over the last few days to create some fresh information for those sessions.

While I am away from these entries for a few days, I hope you will make use of the rich resource of material in the search tool in the right hand column of The Writing Life. Keep looking for fresh ways to grow in your writing craft and knowledge about the marketplace.

A Glimpse into Book Cover Design

After interviewing hundreds of book authors for many years, you'd be surprised how frequently these authors want to tell me how much they dislike the cover of their latest book. Or they will tell me how the book title wasn't the one that they would have selected. Inside when I hear these stories I shake my head and feel like shaking the author and saying, "Get over it and move on and be excited about what you have in front of you." It doesn't make a good impression on the journalist about this part of the publishing process.

Many years ago, one of my high-profile authors strongly disliked his book cover photo. The dislike carried into his eagerness to promote this particular title. Before too many months, this book faded out of print.

On the positive side of book cover design, Roy Peter Clark wrote "Judge My Book by Its Cover" in the June 18th Publishers Weekly. The article points out a simple truth: ideally the cover designer reads the book and gets in sync with the author and publisher about the vision for the book audience. It's a good piece and I recommend you read it.

What the printed article does not show is Clark's book cover for Writing Tools. I have not read this book but I'm familiar with Clark's work at Poynter Online. Here's a list of his 50 writing tools and articles. Here's where he podcasts about these writing tools. It's a rich resource and every writer can gain something from Clark's Writing Tools.

Great Interview Tips

Through the years, I've interviewed many different people in various situations. Some times I've interviewed in a restaurant or in the corner of a busy room. At other times, I've been in the home of a particular person and interviewed them in this environment. Each interview is unique and calls on a different set of circumstances and skills, which I'm constantly developing and improving.

This week I found a great article loaded with solid tips for anyone who is interviewing someone else. That interview may be background for your fiction novel or the interview might be for a magazine article that you are crafting or numerous other writing projects. Eric Nalder at the San Jose Mercury News has valuable insight into this key area. While you are reading the article, also follow Bill Stoller's various links at Publicity Insider. He's another solid resource to check out.

If you've not subscribed to Right Writing News, click over there and sign up for my FREE Ezine and you will receive three FREE Ebooks valued at over $100 with your confirmed subscription.

My entries about the writing life will be a challenge over the next few days. Tomorrow I head for Los Angeles and Mega Book Marketing University. It looks like a tremendous learning experience.

Role Reversal

Usually when it comes to interviews, I'm the person interviewing someone else. Usually at writers conferences, I meet people who have never done a single interview. They are petrified to ask those first questions and complete their first interview. I've been conducting interviews related to my own writing since I was a sophomore in high school--more than a few years back. After high school, throughout the first couple of years of college, I worked on the campus daily newspaper. As a part of writing my stories, I conducted many more interviews. Throughout my magazine and book work, it's been a constant skill which I use in my work. In fact, if you use the search tool in the right-hand column of The Writing Life, type the word "interview" then search my blog (not the web), you will find many pages with different articles.

It's rare for me when the roles are reversed and I'm the person interviewed. Recently MaryAnn Diorio interviewed me for her blog, Musings That Matter. She has just posted our interview. Long-term readers of these entries, will probably see a few of my stories they've heard in the past. Others will learn some new things about my life through this interview. To my surprise it ended up over nine pages. I hope you will check it out and find some encouragement for your own writing.